Letters: December 20

Posted 12/19/12

NRA responsible for kids’ murders

I don’t yet have the names of those children or their teachers yet, but we do know who is responsible for corrupting our political system so that it …

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Letters: December 20

Posted
NRA responsible for kids’ murders I don’t yet have the names of those children or their teachers yet, but we do know who is responsible for corrupting our political system so that it tolerates the killing of children: the NRA. One thing that needs to happen now: Determined gatherings at the NRA HQ in Fairfax, Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. Gatherings utterly committed to nonviolence, which the NRA is not. Sitting down, sitting in, chanting the names of those 20 children over and over again, interspersed with the chant “Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids did you kill today?” (resurrected from the nonviolent campaign  against the Vietnam War, which pointlessly killed 50,000 American and a million Vietnamese) Risking arrest – demanding that the NRA publicly and clearly abandon and reverse its opposition to a federal comprehensive gun-control law. And warning every member of Congress that any one of them who accepts any campaign contributions or lobbyist perks from the NRA will be confronted with serious cash donations to his or her opponent. The NRA has corrupted American culture. It must return to the service of real hunters or get out of business. May the light we light in the dark time of the year light our path to begin sweeping violence out of our homes, our schools, our country. “Not by might, and not by violence, but by My Spirit, My Breath, My Wind, My Hurricane of social change, says YHWH, the Breathing-Spirit of all life.” (The quotation is from the Prophetic passage from Zechariah 4:6, read this very Shabbat in the midst of the Festival of Light in the time of Dark.) Please share this letter with your friends, congregants, co-workers. With blessings that we make REAL shalom, salaam, pax, paz, peace! Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director The Shalom Center Mt. Airy Kiosks will keep me out of Chestnut Hill   No more strolling the streets of Chestnut Hill for me! Gone are the days when one could walk up and down and look into all the lovely shop windows. I only go there now for necessity – and always in a rush to get back to my car. I can't calculate how long I will be there most of the time so I just don't go. And sometimes the kiosks don't register all the time I've put in. They have ruined the pleasures of Chestnut Hill. Margaret N. Pearson Wyndmoor Many thanks to Meals on Wheels We are grateful to Meals on Wheels for the nutritional meals brought to us Monday through Friday by volunteers who really care about us.  The volunteers who deliver our meals come each day at about the same time and treat us like friends.  It is a bright spot in our day. We are homebound and see few people so we count our blessings when the volunteers arrive.  They supply delicious and nutritional food and are social contacts. We thank Meals on Wheels and the volunteers for their kindness and consideration. Catherine and Willie Cromartie Mount Airy Thanks, Gilmores!   Please tell Janet Gilmore that I loved her column and her adventure at becoming “Customer of the Month” at Acme (Dec. 13). I am very impressed that she dressed well for the occasion too. Love her sense of humor. And as for Hugh Gilmore, it is indeed disastrous that libraries will no longer be repositories of books for the ages. I’ve had trouble finding good new reading lately, so I dove into my own bookcase and came up with two James Thurber books that have been entertaining me mightily. What a fine, fine writer he was. The Books are: "The Thurber Album" and "My World and Welcome To It." And Hugh, thank you for reminding us to be good readers every week. Carol Rauch Chestnut Hill College signs violate zoning 
The article in last week's Local about CHCA's Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee's approval of new signs for the entrance to Chestnut Hill College neglected to address the fact that the college is appealing the City Department of Licenses and Inspections' decision that that “proposed two pedestal signs mounted on the coping of an existing fence wall is not permitted in this zoning district.” Specifically L&I stated that zoning in this residential neighborhood requires a 35 foot setback from Germantown Avenue and a maximum height of fence wall of 5 feet. In its application to L&I the college proposed a setback of zero feet and a height of 8 feet. At the meeting we heard that the sign itself will be over nine feet tall and nine feet wide on top of a stone wall of 4 feet. The sign will be as tall as the driveway pillars! There was no discussion at the LUPZ meeting about how the new signage could be accomplished without intruding on the streetscape and such gross deviation from the zoning code. While the college denies that it is  planning similar signage for the Sugarloaf property, we know that it has planned a new main entrance at the intersection of Hillcrest and Germantown. It is hard to imagine that it will not incorporate the design of the main campus entrance onto the Sugarloaf wall, which is even higher. Imagine what residential North Chestnut Hill would look like if all the educational and cultural institutions erected two 9-foot signs on the property line on top of existing stone walls or estate fencing! Chuck Broadbent Chestnut Hill
Thanks for help with adoptions So many of my wonderful cat adoptions would not have occurred this year without the generosity of Len Lear and the Chestnut Hill Local, which runs photos of the cats I rescue from the unkind streets of Philadelphia. All my furry friends join me in expressing a sincere thank you for enabling the Local  readers to connect with outstanding cats seeking a human's companionship and love. Please check out my blog to meet some of the outstanding fosters dreaming of “furever” homes (http://brendascatrescue.blogspot.com/). Wishing everyone Happy Holly Spays & a Neuter Year! Brenda Malinics Roxborough Article in Local worked for Babs Thanks so much for posting about Babs in the Local last week. (Ed. note: Babs is a 13-year-old cat whose owner, Laurie Keeler, of Mt. Airy, died suddenly.) Laurie and I were partners. Thankfully we are like so many now, “Out and proud.” That is a very cool thing you do posting pictures of animals who need a home … putting a furry face to an animal in need. And it brings animal adoption to peoples’ minds. Babs is on her way to Pittsburgh today. After a little tiny bit of “interrogation,” Laurie’s best friend from high school finally decided to take her. But the Local article worked! Someone called yesterday, which would have been the best bet for Babs, but we had just made all the arrangements with Gail. We are keeping her number, though, in case it doesn’t work out. Our Portuguese Water Dog Abbi, and I are hanging in with each other through this sudden and unbearable trauma in our lives. I don’t know what I would do without her constant presence.  She also misses Laurie terribly. She still “perks” and wags if she is on the porch and hears a car door close or “alarm” that was like Laurie’s. Thank you again for what you do for the gentle creatures. J.J. VanName Mt. Airy
   
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